Liam Fox says there will be no Irish border solution
until the end of Brexit talks.

UK government "can't come to a final answer" on the
Ireland question until future trade is agreed, the Trade
Secretary said.

Irish government has threatened to block Brexit talks
unless Theresa May guarantees no return to a hard
border.

Remain in the single market and customs union to stop
the return of a hard border, Irish ministers have urged UK
government.

LONDON —International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has been accused
of holding Ireland to ransom after he said that there can be no
solution to the border dilemma until future trade between Britain
and the EU is agreed.

Conservative minister Fox said over the weekend that the UK
government "can’t come to a final answer to the Irish question
until we get an idea of the end state" amid concern in Dublin
over the possible return of a hard border.

Responding to Fox's remarks, Irish MEP Mairead McGuinness
told the Guardian:
"I hope that the UK is not holding the Irish situation to ransom
in these negotiations. It is far too serious and far too
critical."

Fox was backed by fellow Brexiteer Kate Hoey on Monday morning.
The Labour MP told Radio 4 that the Irish government "will have
to pay" for any physical border after Brexit and urged Ireland to
be more "positive" about leaving the EU.

Irish officials over the weekend said that Ireland would veto
negotiations moving until the second phase unless Theresa May
offers a solution that will prevent a hard border between Ireland
and Northern Ireland after Brexit.

Its EU Commissioner, Phil Hogan told the
Observerthat the veto threat was real, as did Ireland’s
Minister for European Affairs, Helen McEntee, who told Channel 4:
"We need the UK govt to come forward with what might be possible.

"Absolutely nothing has been brought forward [on border
question]. We’ve been saying the same thing for 18 months."

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has said that he wants a
written guarantee from his UK counterpart May that there will be
no hard border after Britain leaves the European Union.

The Irish government believes that either Northern Ireland or the
entire UK remaining members of the single market and customs
union is the best way of avoiding the return of a physical
border.

However, the UK government has insisted that the entire country
will leave the EU's core institutions on exit day in Marc, 2019,
while the DUP — the Northern Irish party propping up Prime
Minister May's Conservative government — has warned it will
oppose any attempt to keep Northern Ireland in the customs union.

The Irish border question has emerged as the most difficult
question facing Britain as it attempts to unravel itself from the
European Union.

"I don't how a clue they are going to sort it out... Even the
most optimistic view must accept there will be some sort of
physical border" [unless UK stays in the single market and
customs union]," a former senior EU official told Business
Insider.

Leo Varadkar and Theresa
May.REUTERS/Philip
Toscano/Pool

"I don’t think Ireland will have to block anything on its own"

The British side is determined for Brexit negotiations to move
onto the next phase before New Year so they have as much time as
possible to discuss future trade arrangements and a possible
transition deal.

However, the EU has been insistent that talks cannot move on
until "sufficient progress" is made on citizens' rights, the size
of Britain's financial settlement, and the controversial issue of
the Irish border.

This means the UK government is under pressure to produce a
workable solution to the border question in time for the EU's
December summit or risk talks being stuck in deadlock into the
New Year.

Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney told a committee last week
that he believed the EU27 would not hesitate to stand by Ireland
in blocking Brexit talks from moving beyond phase one if it was
felt that the British side's proposal for avoiding a hard border
in Ireland was not satisfactory.

"I don’t think Ireland will have to block anything on its own,"
he told the committee.

"There is absolute solidarity across the 27 countries here. They
are with Ireland on this because we are making a fair but very
firm case and I believe other European countries will stick with
Ireland."